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By
Elise Malmberg
Want to make a band squirm? Ask them to describe their music.
photo by M. Vorrasi
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Brooklyn-based Say Hi to Your Mom — a trio led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Eric Elbogen — is no exception. "I never know how to answer this question," Elbogen complains. "Um…post-pop ironic blog rock?"
It's not a bad description. Say Hi to Your Mom creates witty, minimal, keyboard-centric pop with song titles like "But She Beat My High Score" and "They Write Books About This Sort of Thing." Another example: "Recurring Motifs in Historical Flirtings," from 2005's Ferocious Mopes, which features the funny yet heartbreaking lyric, "And to me you say 'let's just be friends'/The four worst words in our language."
Elbogen tends to sing in a hushed, confessional tone, as though he's worried about disturbing the downstairs neighbors. The tone is slightly ironic and distant — he knows he's being clever. But despite these mannerisms, there's an emotional directness to his vocals that pushes Say Hi beyond mere quirkiness. Elbogen's voice snags and holds your ear like the tiny teeth in a strip of Velcro. It's this quality, combined with his strong melodic sense and spare, hook-filled arrangements, that distinguishes Say Hi to Your Mom from the typical low-stakes, lo-fi bedroom-studio production.
Eric released the first Say Hi album, Discosadness, on his own Euphobia Records in 2002. Since then he's recorded and toured almost nonstop. These days he performs and records with drummer/percussionist Chris Egan III and keyboardist Jeff Sheinkopf, who joined the lineup last year.
Elbogen recently spoke with rightround about songwriting, recording, performing, and his ongoing fascination with robots.
photo by M. Vorrasi
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What's new with the band?
We've been on the road a lot lately, which is good. During breaks we made the fourth record — it's called Impeccable Blahs, and it's due out in July 2006. I've already started writing and demoing the fifth record, too. And we recently licensed a song to a CBS reality show — apparently the scene in question involves the state of Arizona and a motorcycle.
Which do you prefer: studio or stage?
Studio, for sure. I prefer to deal in permanence. There's a density that's available in the studio that's impossible to replicate live. When I write new songs, I prefer to record them before starting to perform them. That's the only way to flesh out the arrangements and make the songs more interesting.
When you do start playing your songs live, do you try to duplicate the record?
There's a fine line. Certain songs have grown more interesting because we've changed aspects of them for the live show. Others haven't, despite various attempts. It's impossible to make certain songs sound exactly the same when there are only three of us on stage and the song used 70-plus tracks in the studio.
What's the best way to wreck a good song?
Spend too much time working on the arrangement or the mix.
photo by M. Vorrasi
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What are the most rewarding aspects of playing live? The most challenging?
The main reward is discovering people who appreciate your music. The challenges are trying to stay financially afloat and consistently excited. The audience makes a difference too: A responsive crowd makes us want to work harder, but an unresponsive crowd makes it feel like we're just in rehearsal, which is no fun for anyone. There's also a lot of compromising you have to do within the tour van. It is, however, something we all love to do.
Do you get nervous onstage?
No — we've all been doing this for a very long time. It's like breakfast or sex for us, at this point.
If you didn't play music, what would you do?
Be a master jewel thief.
What's up with your obsession with robots?
What's up with your non-obsession with robots?
No, really. All three of your previous albums feature illustrations of robots on the covers, and you talk about androids and spaceships in your songs. What do robots mean to you?
I suppose it's the D&D-playing, Buffy-watching, sci-fi geek in me that compels me to write about robots and spaceships. They're just alternative metaphors for expressing the same scenarios, fictions, and revulsions that other pop writers rant about. As far as what they mean to me personally? I don't really know. Say Hi to Your Mom has always been about imagining protagonists with their own sets of problems and loves, regardless of the presence or absence of those things in my personal life. I know that some people have a hard time with that — they're looking for a songwriter who wears his heart on his sleeve and shares his most intimate desires with his audience. But my distaste for that sort of confessionalism is one of the main reasons I started making the Say Hi records. I'd much rather save my intimate confessions for pillow talk.
Buy Say Hi To Your Mom stuff
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Interview by Elise Nordling;
article by Elise Malmberg
Posted June 2006
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